Six Words
by DragonKatGal
Summary: *complete* Sequal to 'Balance Restored'. B/A, strangely enough.
1. Prologue

Six Words

SUMMARY: The much asked for (well…two ppl at least…) sequel to 'Balance Restored'.  Everyone's reactions to their own letters.

It would definitely help if you read the first one and the little companion piece that goes with it.

SPOILERS: S7, up to 'Showtime'.

DISCLAIMER: *sighs* do we really have to do this again?  Yes.  Oh, fine.  They're not mine.  

NOTE: I haven't been keeping up with AtS, mainly cos I really can't be bothered until it actually airs in Australia.  So…I'm gonna take big liberties when I get up the Angel stuff.  I'll put another note in there when I get up to it.

ONWARDS:

PROLOGUE

The house was quiet when the Slayers-in-Training awoke.  The sun was barely showing in the sky, peeking through the clouds every few seconds, then ducking behind them again.  Four out of the five SIT's were slowly becoming more awoke down in the living room whilst the fifth SIT was upstairs sharing a room with the redheaded best friend of the Slayer.

The Slayer's other best friend, a lanky brown haired boy with a ready smile and a joking nature was bunked on the couch to watch over the SIT's while Buffy was out of the house.  

The Slayer's younger sister was up in the Slayer's room, watching over a platinum haired vampire that was only just beginning to regain consciousness.  None of the SIT's really understood why the Slayer had taken so many measures to ensure the safety of a vampire, but they had seen the Slayer destroy the Turokhan and were therefore fairly confident that the Slayer knew what she was doing.

What they didn't know, however, was that the Slayer wasn't in the house with them.  She'd left an hour earlier, walking towards the hellmouth with determination and a little trepidation.  What they also didn't know was that the First had now been completely banished from the earthly plain and would no longer be trying to kill them off one-by-one.

The first SIT to awaken completely was an African-American girl, young, only about thirteen, by the name of Rona.  She'd been the last to arrive in the Summers' house.  She felt completely safe in the house, even though the house was still slightly in shambles after being completely trashed several days ago.  She felt safe because the Slayer had rescued her from certain death before she'd even said a word to Rona.  

Rona stretch, accidentally kicking another of the SIT's.  The other girl groaned sleepily and rolled over in her sleeping bag, stretching her sore back.  She was a British girl of about fourteen with a cockney accent and slightly red hair.  She'd been one of the first three SIT's to arrive at the house.  

"Sorry Molly," Rona whispered.

Molly blinked a little to adjust to the light and realised that it had been Rona's foot that had awoken her.

"Not a problem," Molly replied.  She unzipped her sleeping bag and sat up cross legged, looking around the slightly darkened room.  Her gaze fell on a taller girl that usually wore a beret.  The only time she was without it was when she slept.

The taller girl, an American of about fifteen, Vi, awoke slowly.  She looked over to Molly and gave a sleepy wave.  

"What time is it?" Vi asked, her voice deepened by fatigue.

"Just after seven," Molly replied.

Vi groaned, feeling it was far too early to be awake.  The groan awakened a shorter brown haired girl, Chloe who was about fourteen.  Chloe sighed, not liking being awoken.

"Do we gotta get up?" Chloe moaned.

"Do we have to," Molly corrected, "and yes, we probably should."

Xander rolled over, having being slightly awake before they had started speaking.  He opened one eye and saw that the girls looked as though they were getting ready to get up/

"Morning," Xander mumbled, forcing himself to sit up.

He couldn't believe how tired he was.  He didn't know how the Slayer could live with so little sleep. She'd seemed so awake during the battle, and Xander was exhausted from just watching it.

"Morning Xander," the others replied.  

Now almost fully awoke, the girls stood and made their way to the kitchen, most of their stomachs growling insistently, Xander following them, rubbing his eyes blearily.  They met the two fully dressed figures of the fifth Slayer in training as well as the Slayer's redheaded best friend.  

"Morning guys," the redhead said brightly.

"Hey Willow," the girls replied.  "Morning Kennedy."

The fifth SIT, Kennedy, an attractive seventeen year old waved her greeting to the girls.

"You guys hungry?" Willow asked.

As though on cue, Kennedy's stomach growled audibly, causing the other SIT's to begin laughing.  Willow grinned at the girl who she was beginning to have feelings for.  "I'll take that as a yes." Kennedy smiled sheepishly, and followed as the others went into the kitchen.

The first to enter, Molly, stopped short when she saw the two slumped figures in the kitchen.

"Mr Giles?" Molly asked quietly.

The British Watcher barely heard the girls come in.  His eyes were beginning to hurt from trying to keep his tears at bay.  He was concentrating on his breathing so that he wouldn't have to concentrate on the truth about his Slayer.  He was concentrating on anything rather than the fact that he no longer had a Slayer.

The four other SIT's loitered behind Molly, unsure of what to do.  They didn't know the Watcher all that well, and they really didn't know his companion well at all, except to know that she spoke very truthfully and with very little tact most of the time.  And that she'd been a demon at one stage.

Willow and Xander pushed through to the front, their stomachs dropping almost instantly when they saw her two friends sitting at the table, desolately.

"Giles?"  Willow reached out to touch his shoulder, startling Giles out of his trance.  He looked up at them and tried to give Willow a smile.

"Are you alright?" Rona asked from behind Molly.

The Watcher nodded and forced himself to stand up, trying not to let his shoulders slump with defeat.  _How ironic_, he thought to himself.  _Defeated when we've just won the biggest battle of our lives_.

Rona looked towards the young woman beside Giles, who had her head bowed.  The SIT looked at the other four, wondering what to do.

"Should we maybe get Buffy?" Rona asked quietly.  "She'd know what to do."

The Watcher, Rupert Giles, very nearly broke down at the whispered name of his Slayer.  Yes, his Slayer would have known what to do for him, but his Slayer was no more.  He was no longer _her_ Watcher.  

"You can't," came the strangled reply from the young woman at the counter.  The ex-demon, Anya Jenkins, finally looked up.  The four SIT's shifted uncomfortably as they saw that the older girl had tears running down her face.

"What do you mean 'we can't' Anya?" Willow asked nervously, afraid that she already knew the answer.  "Did she go out?  Isn't it too early for her to be at work?"

Anya stood up and forced herself to meet Willow's eyes.  She saw the fear on the redheaded girls face and knew that now was not the time for accusations.  Besides which, Anya had been just as much at fault as Willow had been.  Anya glanced quickly at Xander and decided she didn't like the desolate in his eyes anymore than she liked the same look that was residing in Willow's.

"I mean, we can't get her, because she's gone to destroy the First," Anya replied.

The five SIT's looked at each other in shock.  They hadn't been excepting for that to happen.  They'd expected to at least be included in the battle.

"By herself?" Kennedy asked, feeling a little slighted at being left out.

Anya nodded, but kept her eyes trained on Willow.  

"How could she defeat the first without any help?" Molly asked curiously.  She'd known that the Slayer was strong, but to have her go off by herself and destroy something like the first just seemed amazing.

"Because, the only way to get rid of the First was to kill the thing that allowed the First to be here in the first place," Anya explained.

"So, what'd she hafta kill?" Rona asked, not aware of the serious tension in the room between Willow and Anya.  "A demon?  Vampire?  Another of those Turokan thingies?"

Anya swallowed hard and forced herself not to cry as she replied to Rona's question without looking at the young girl.

"Herself.  She had to kill herself."

Silence reigned for a matter of seconds before the five SIT's burst out with questions that were indecipherable in the babble of noise that erupted.

"Herself?"  "Killed?"  "No!"  "She can't!"  "Allowed the First to be here?"  "Buffy…"  "She can't be dead!" 

The shattering of a glass cup shocked them all into silence again as they turned to look at Giles who had just thrown a glass of water across the room at the door in his anger and frustration.  Without a word, the Watcher left the room, unable to deal with the questions, the noise, the fact that his 'daughter' was dead.

He stalked past the group and walked briskly up the stairs, desperate to get as far away from the SIT's as possible.

The SIT's turned their attention to Willow, Xander and Anya; Willow and Xander in tears and Anya barely able to contain her own.

"It was 'cos of the spell, wasn't it?" Willow whispered.

Anya nodded.  "Yeah.  'Cos of our spell."

Their audience looked at each other in confusion.  _Spell_?  

"How did you find out?" Xander managed to ask.

"Giles and I went to visit the Beljoxes Eye.  It told us that the balance was off.  And the only way to have it rebalanced, was…"

"To destroy the variable," Willow finished.

Willow went silent for a moment, trying to process this information.  She'd brought the Slayer back and because of that the First had started creating chaos amongst the SIT's and their Watchers.  As guilt threatened to overwhelm her, another important thought came to her mind.

"Where's Dawnie?" 

"Up with Spike," Anya replied.  

Willow nodded and felt the urge to go and see the younger girl, the only familial link to the Slayer.  Willow pushed past the five SIT's to make her way upstairs to the Slayers room where the blonde vampire, spike, William the Bloody, was resting quietly.  Anya and Xander followed her up the stairs and into the room, neither of them wanting to be left out.

Willow walked inside, surprised to see Giles in the room as well.  Spike was lying on the bed, propped up by pillows, Dawn sobbing on his chest with the vampire's arms around her comfortingly.  Giles was seated in the desk chair, a blank look on his face.  It was obvious that the Slayer's younger sister already knew the fate that had been handed to the Chosen One.

Spike was the only one to notice the redhead and the (currently) blonde girls as well as the dark haired boy.  He gave them what was meant to be a comforting smile, but it ended up shaky and sad.

"You three orright?"

Willow shook her head, afraid to speak for fear that she would just begin talking about how badly she felt.  Spike shifted his legs, moving slowly.  Willow realised that he'd made room at the end of the bed for her, and she gratefully sat down.  She hadn't realised how weak at the knees she felt.

The Slayer's younger sister looked up as the bed shifted slightly.  She saw Willow's tears and let go of Spike to give Willow a hug.  Willow hugged the younger girl, the Key to Dimensions, a young sixteen year old girl named Dawn.

They hugged for what seemed like hours.  Dawn finally pulled back and stood up, moving over to the desk.  She picked up several pieces of paper and walked back to the group.  She handed them each a small slip of paper that held only six words on each.

"They're from Buffy," Dawn whispered, her voice sore and tired.

The gang nodded mutely and unfolded their papers, reading the final words of the Slayer, Buffy Summers.


	2. Giles

ONE: GILES

_Giles,_

_I love you dad_

_Buffy._

Giles hadn't spoken a word since he had had his confrontation with Buffy a little over an hour ago.  The last words he'd spoken to her hadn't been the words that a Watcher had the right to say.  They hadn't offered her what he had once promised her so many years ago.  He hadn't supported her, and he hadn't respected her choices.  As much as he understood them, he didn't want to say goodbye to her.

He took the paper that Dawn handed him, his ands shaking a little.  He tried to muster up a smile of thanks but found he couldn't even get his mouth to move at all.  He unfolded the paper and read the six words written on it.

Tears pricked his eyes, then overflowed, spilling liberally down his cheeks.  A small half-smile came to his face as he read the words he'd longed to hear without knowing that it was what he wanted.

_I love you dad._

So simple, but so meaningful.  He'd hoped that he'd had an impact on his Slayer, and reading the words from her showed him that he truly had meant a great deal to her.

He could still recall the first and only time that Buffy had told him the words aloud.  It had been just after Joyce's death, when she'd told him that she didn't want to return to the slaying because she didn't like what it was doing to her heart.  

_Giles…I love you.  Love, love, love…Giles it sounds strange!_

He missed her already.  He wished that he'd stayed in Sunnydale instead of leaving.  He'd admitted to her that he'd been wrong to leave, and now he truly regretted the months he had spent away from his 'daughter'.  He'd never get to see her again, would never get to tell her that he loved her too.

He tried to swallow the lump in his throat but found he couldn't.  Instead, he just folded the paper and let the tears flow for his daughter for the second time in two years.


	3. Xander

TWO: XANDER

_Xander,_

_You're my rock,_

_Love Buffy._

Xander couldn't believe this was happening.  He hadn't been expecting it at all, and by the looks of things, neither had anyone else.  To hear that Buffy had been forced to kill herself to restore the balance, whatever that meant, was just astounding.  To hear that it was because of the resurrection spell that he had played a part in was also beyond belief.  

He accepted the slip of paper, unfolding it with care, almost afraid of what it would say.  This time, Buffy's death had been partly his fault, and he was almost expecting an accusation.  The words within it however were music to his heart.

_You're my rock_.

Reading those words made Xander feel indescribable.  He smiled through his tears and re-read the words again and again.

The words made him think back upon the times that he had been there for her, either as a punching back, emotional or literal, as well as her personal cheerleading squad.  

When it's dark and I'm all alone and I'm scared or freaked out or whatever, I always think, 'What would Buffy do?' You're my hero.

She'd been his hero, and it looked as though she had thought of him in much the same way.  He'd been the normal constant in her life, her White Knight as Angelus had once dubbed him.  He'd saved her life on more than one occasion, literally reviving her when they'd been sixteen, and in more subtle ways over the years.

Xander closed his eyes and tried to picture his best friend's smiling face, finding several memories that came easily, many of them from the summer that he had spent basically living at her place whilst Willow was in England and Anya was getting her vengeance on.  They're friendship had become even more solid over those three months, and he'd spent most, if not all of his free time there with her, making her laugh and smile.

Tears fell down his cheeks as he remembered the girl he had loved for so long.  He couldn't help but smile as the thought that she was finally back in heaven where she belonged passed through his head.  As much as he would miss her, he knew that no one deserved peace more than his hero.


	4. Anya

THREE: ANYA

_Anya,_

_Make them smile_

Love Buffy

Anya felt horribly guilty.  If she'd listened to Giles and hadn't told Buffy, the Slayer would still be there, and they wouldn't be tucked up in her room, tears dampening them all, as sobs filled the otherwise quiet room.  She took the note from Dawn, almost surprised that she was actually getting one.  

She'd always felt like an outsider of the Scoobies, especially recently, though that had been for a good reason.  She'd been a demon.  Anya unfolded the note and smiled as she saw the words written within the letter.

Make them smile.

As much as the group had always complained about her obsessive way of speaking about sex, it had always made the Scoobies smile, either with Anya or at her.  Buffy had told her only recently that she sort of missed the bluntness of Anya's tactless talks about sex.

Anya could still recall the day after their attempted battle to the death.  Buffy had arrived at her doorstep, smiling nervously and bearing two mochas.  Anya had regarded her suspiciously at first, but had invited the girl in anyway.  Buffy had offered her one of the cups which Anya took cautiously, almost expecting the drink to be poisoned, but at that stage in her life, she hadn't cared if she lived or died, and figured that the worst that could happen was death, which she wouldn't have minded.

So, the two girls had drank their drinks in silence until Buffy had finally spoken up.

"I'm sorry.  You know…for trying to kill you.  I'm glad I didn't have to.  Killing friends…not fun."

Anya had been surprised to hear Buffy call Anya her friend, but had relaxed around the slight blonde girl after that.  They'd fallen into a comfortable conversation that had ended with the two of them going shopping for the afternoon.  And when Anya had woken up the next day, still in perfect health, she knew that Buffy had been genuine the previous day in her offer of friendship.

Anya sniffled and silently vowed that she wouldn't let Buffy down.  She would make them smile or die trying.


	5. Willow

FOUR: WILLOW

_Willow_

_No more cookies._

Love Buffy

The guilt was starting to hit Willow at magnum force.  Her idea to resurrect Buffy had ultimately been the cause of the Slayer's demise.  And this time, Willow knew that she couldn't bring Buffy back again.  Not only would it be horribly cruel to do to Buffy again, but she now knew the ultimate consequences of the spell.

Dawn handed Willow the small slip of paper and Willow unfolded it, wondering, much like Xander had, if there would be words of accusation written on it.  The words that were actually there were not what she'd been expecting.

No more cookies.

Willow couldn't help but smile at the reference.  The last time she'd actually made cookies to alleviate her guilt had been because of her "I will it so" spell that she'd done just after Oz had left Sunnydale.

Baking lifts thirty percent of my guilt, but only seven percent of my inner turmoil.

But Buffy had told her no more cookies.  Willow had been forgiven by the Slayer whose life Willow had ruined completely in the last year.  Not only had Willow torn Buffy from eternal happiness, but Willow had endangered Buffy's sister as well as tried to kill Buffy both personally and with magically made demons to purposefully take the Slayer out.

Willow wiped the tears from her eyes and silently vowed to make only one batch of cookies as a tribute to the Slayer who had forgiven her.  They wouldn't be cookies of guilt, but cookies of freedom.


	6. Interlude

Orright ppl: This is much like the prologue in setting up how the people are gonna be receiving their letters.  But, cos I can't be bothered setting up both Angel and Faith's, lets just say that Faith is out of jail and is staying with Angel at the Hyperion.  I haven't been keeping up with the Angel scripts, nor have I been downloading the episodes, like I have been with Buffy (who loves downloads!!!) so, I'm taking liberties here.  

Angel and Connor are alright with each other, not horribly chummy, but they're not trying to kill each other.  I'm ignoring the Cordy/Angel thing, cos I don't like Cordy, so she's not in this at all, and neither are Gunn, Fred or Wes.  Faith's at the hotel.  Cool?  

INTERLUDE

Angel, Faith and Connor had gone out for the evening, the three of them getting slightly claustrophobic within the hotel, even though the hotel was massive.  Faith had been feeling slightly off all day, something that she couldn't describe had been unsettling her stomach since early that morning.  She didn't know what it was, but she did know that when she'd drifted off whilst watching tv with Connor earlier that afternoon, she hadn't had a single dream, which had been unusual.  

Faith had been having strange dreams for a few months, dreaming about girls that she didn't know being killed off by guys in black robes and hoods.  For her to not have one was incredibly relieving for her, and Faith could only hope that she would have a dreamless sleep for the rest of the week.

Angel opened the doors to the Hyperion and stopped short, is heart sinking the instant he saw the tiny figure sitting on his couch, a look f complete despair on her face.  

"Dawn," Angel whispered.

He was reminded instantly of the last time any of the Scooby Gang had come to LA.  Tat had been when Buffy had died after defeating Glory.  But instead of Buffy's best friend, he found Buffy's younger sister.  Faith heard the whispered word and felt her heart sink.

So this was what her 'spider-sense' had been telling her all day.  

Connor looked between his father and the woman that took great pleasure in riling up his father at every opportunity.  He saw the looks of utter shock and despair on their faces.

Angel swallowed hard and forced himself to say the same words that he'd uttered last time.

"It's Buffy…isn't it?"

Dawn nodded and stood shakily.  

Connor looked at his father, completely chocked to see tears in the mans eyes.  He'd never seen Angel cry, and seeing it now was a very new experience.  Connor looked towards Faith who had a tear rolling down her cheek as well.  To see the two strongest people he knew in tears was making Connor uncomfortable.  

He debated who would be the best person to ask his question to and decided on Faith, not wanting to ask Angel when he was so obviously not wanting anything to disturb him.

"Who's Buffy?" Connor whispered to Faith.

Faith swallowed hard and tried to think of an explanation that was quick and concise.  How could she possibly put Buffy into words so that Connor could understand.

"She was B," Faith replied absently.  "My sister."

Faith walked away from him towards Dawn, pulling the younger girl into a hug.  Dawn completely lost it at the contact and hugged Faith back, the two girls crying for their sister.  Angel just stared at them absently, neither seeing nor hearing anything around him, just letting the pure void flow through him.

They finally composed themselves and Faith pulled back.

"How?" Faith asked.

Dawn swallowed and sat down, her body too weak to remain standing.

"Do you remember her going up against the First?" Dawn asked quietly.

Faith nodded.  That had been on Christmas Eve so many years ago.  That had been before Faith had turned against everyone and before Faith had accidentally killed the Deputy Mayor.

"It came back," Dawn said.  "And she defeated it."

"And it killed her," Faith finished.

Dawn nodded, not wanting to reveal the true nature of Buffy's death to them.  The Scoobies had all gone to the hellmouth to retrieve Buffy's body after they'd finished reading their letters, and they'd been horrified to see Buffy lying lifelessly in the basement, a gunshot wound to her head.  Dawn had turned away instantly, shielding herself in Xander's chest.  

The others had been morbidly fascinated by the Slayer's lifeless body and hadn't been able to tear their eyes away from her.  For the second time in his life, Giles had been the one to carry Buffy's body away from the place of her death. 

Dawn stood and walked towards Angel who was still standing stiff as a statue on the top landing of the doorway.  Dawn approached him tentatively, knowing that if she startled him, it could be potentially dangerous.

"Angel?" she whispered softly.

Angel snapped out of his trance and looked at his soulmate's sister.  He stepped down the stairs and engulfed Dawn in a hug.  Dawn clung to him tightly and just let the dark-haired vampire stroke her hair gently.

Angel pressed a gentle kiss to the crown of Dawn's head.  Connor just watched in amazement.  He'd never seen Angel be like that with anyone.  He couldn't help but wonder who exactly it was that these people were mourning.  He knew for a fact that Faith didn't have a sister, had asked her about her family a long time ago.  She'd got a funny smile on her face as she answered, and said that she had no blood relatives.

Dawn finally pulled away and sniffled miserably.  She put a hand into her pocket and got out one slip of paper and one envelope.  She handed the envelope to Angel and gave the paper to Faith.

Faith took it, a look of surprise coming over her face.  "She had time to write these?"

Dawn nodded and Faith felt her stomach sink even further.  

"She knew that she was gonna die, didn't she?" 

"Yeah," Dawn replied softly.  "She knew."

Faith nodded and unfolded her paper to read the last words that her sister would ever get to say to her.


	7. Faith

FIVE: FAITH

_Faith_

_Chosen One.  Forgive me?_

B

Faith breathed in deeply and looked down at the short message written on it.  Her stomach was still feeling unsettled, but at least now she understood why.  Buffy, the real Slayer, was dead.  Which meant that Faith was exactly what Buffy had said to her in the short letter.

Chosen One.

Faith was it.  The Slayer.  The only Slayer now.  Faith could still remember the torn feelings she'd had when she'd discovered that she wasn't the only Slayer in the world.  She'd felt incredibly slighted to know that there was another one that she was being compared to.  Not only that, but she knew that compared to the other Slayer, she fell short.

After meeting Buffy, she'd still felt jealous, but then the two of them had begun to fall into a friendship that was bonded because of their callings.

We're Slayers girlfriend, the Chosen Two.

They'd worked as a single synchronous unit until Faith had made the mistake of not admitting her own guilt in the accidental murder of Alan Finch.  If she hadn't taken the darker path, they could have ruled over Sunnydale together and had a blast while they did it.

Faith read over the second part of the letter.

Forgive me?

Faith recalled the conversation that she and Buffy had had when Buffy had visited the prison after her resurrection.  Faith had been absolutely flabbergasted to see the blonde Slayer for two reasons.  The first being she hadn't been expecting any visitors at all, and the second being that no one had told her that Buffy had been back.

B!  Holy shit!  Angel said…I mean…he told me that you were…well…dead.

Buffy had just given her a tiny smile, and Faith had known automatically that Buffy wasn't happy about her encore performance as the Slayer.  Faith had called her on it and had been on the receiving end of a tale that had left the unbreakable Faith in a sobbing mess for her 'sister'.  Buffy had admitted to Faith the truth about her resurrection, every ugly detail from being ripped painfully from peace, to waking up in her coffin, to lying to her friends about where she'd been.

After Buffy had finished explaining, she'd looked at Faith with a completely sombre expression and apologised to Faith who'd promptly said that Buffy had nothing to be sorry for.  Buffy had left without hearing the words 'you're forgiven' and even though Faith had assured her there was nothing to be sorry for, Buffy had wanted to hear them.  Having Buffy now ask for forgiveness as her final words made Faith wonder whether Buffy had stewed over it for the last few months.  Faith hoped not.

Faith couldn't help but smile at Buffy's signature.  B.  Faith folded up the paper and looked towards the sky, even though she was met with a white ceiling rather than the heavens.  "I forgive you B."


	8. Angel

SIX: ANGEL

_Angel,_

_Always your girl._

Love Buffy

Angel couldn't believe this was happening again.  He couldn't believe that Buffy was dead.  Again.  With shaking hands, he slit open the envelope.  Inside wee two pieces of paper.  He opened the first and was a little surprised to see it wasn't address to him.  It was for Connor.  

Somehow he knew he shouldn't have been that surprised that Buffy knew about Connor.  He always had underestimated her.

Angel turned to his son and handed the paper to him.  Connor looked almost as surprised as Angel did.  He still didn't know what was going on, and to be handed a letter from a girl he'd never met and never even heard of before now was a little bizarre.

Angel took unfolded the other piece of paper and looked at the words.

Always your girl.

His heart ached horribly.  He had seen her only once since her resurrection, and even though he'd told Cordy that he wasn't overly hurt about Buffy's death, it had very nearly crippled and shattered him.  He'd downplayed what he was feeling to keep Cordy off his back.  But the truth was, Angel had still loved the golden blonde girl, and Angel knew that he always would.

Their reunion after her return had been bittersweet and had ended with a parting kiss that had left them both breathless.  He'd asked her the same words that he'd asked her when Buffy had asked him if they could take a break after the whole charade with Angel not having his soul.

You still my girl?

Always.

They knew they could never be together again, not only was their the whole happiness clause in his curse, but they also knew that there was now too much distance between them.  But they still loved each other.  They still owned pieces of each other that no one else could ever touch.  Buffy would always belong to Angel, and Angel would always belong to Buffy, no matter who else they loved as well.

Angel closed his eyes and bent his head, whispering Buffy's name as though it were a benediction.  He could only hope that wherever she was now, she was finally at the peace he knew she'd been taken from.  Angel could only wait for the day when he was given back his humanity, then await his human death and spend eternity with her.


	9. Connor

SEVEN: CONNOR

Dear Connor,

Forgive him,

Love Buffy.

Connor stared at the folded piece of paper that had been handed to him.  He unfolded the paper and found only six words written inside.  He read them, wondering who this person was.

Forgive him.

He could only assume that the 'him' was Angel.  Who was this girl who had made his father cry?  Who was this girl who had asked him to forgive his father?  And how did this girl know that he still resented Angel for the acts of Angelus?

He looked up at his father and found that Angel was still in tears.  He approached carefully.

"Who was she?" Connor asked quietly.

Angel looked at his son and gave him a tiny smile.  "The first person I ever loved.  She…before you, she was my everything."

Connor nodded and began realising why this girl as so important.  Connor reached out and slowly took Angel's note from Buffy and read it.  This girl had loved his father deeply.  Deeply enough to tell Angel that she would always be his.  She'd obviously forgiven Angel completely for what he'd done.

"We couldn't be together," Angel continued, his voice hushed, sad and quiet.  "So I left.  She…if anyone should have been your mother, it should have been her.  She would have loved you with everything she had and then some.  I don't even know how she knew about you."

"And she loved you?" Connor asked.

Dawn managed a snort of laughter even through her tears.  "That's an understatement," she said.  

Angel couldn't help but feel slightly gratified that it wasn't just he who had held onto Buffy, but that Buffy had held onto him as well.  

Connor nodded and could only hope that over the coming years, he would find out what it was that this person who should have been his mother had seen in Angel.  Perhaps he could learn more about her and slowly begin to forgive his father for the things that Connor logically understood he'd had no control over.  Connor sighed and slowly began to forgive his dad.


	10. Dawn

EIGHT: DAWN

_Dawn,_

_Be brave.  Live.  Love._

Buffy

Dawn had read and re-read her sister's parting words over and over again.  When she'd told the others that it should be she who deliver the notes to Faith and Angel, she'd clutched onto Buffy's note tightly all the way over on the bus.  She'd sobbed softly for the two hour ride, gaining odd looks from everyone around her, but she didn't care.  They didn't know what had happened to her.  They didn't know that she'd just lost the most important person in her world.

Dawn watched as Faith and Angel read their letters and couldn't help but re-read her own letter again. Written on it were words that Buffy had told her the last time she had died.

Be brave.  Live.

Dawn had tried so hard the first time to do as Buffy had asked, but it had been so hard.  It had been excruciating to live in a world that didn't house her family.  She wasn't looking forward to trying it again, but this tie, she knew that she would have to do it.

She'd matured incredibly since Tara's death and had learned to stand on her own two feet since then.  She'd obviously inherited the strength that the other Summers' women had in leaps and bounds.  Independence and a stubborn streak a mile wide were the other traits that she knew she had.  And Dawn now knew the truth of her sisters second death when Buffy had plunged off the tower to save Dawn's life.

Dawn understood that her sister didn't love gently.  She loved fiercely and protectively, and Dawn understood that the others had taken Buffy's gift for granted.  They hadn't understood that Buffy's sacrifice had been the final thing that she'd needed to do to seal the love she felt for her sister.

Dawn smiled a little as she recalled the one and only time that she had worked up the guts to ask Buffy what the afterlife had been life.  Buffy had smiled a little wistfully and explained that everything was peaceful, complete, loving.  She'd spoken about being protected and cared for.  And Dawn knew that even though she would miss her sister terribly, she would see Buffy again, and feel the thing that Buffy had told her to feel in her final words.

Love.

**END**

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Toodles.

K.


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